Thank you, Mr. Braid.
That was the subject of a very important debate that happened in the House of Commons, as was the initial decision to participate. Yes, progress is being made. First and foremost, civilian lives are being spared as a result of the efforts of NATO, of which Canada is a very active participant in the no-fly zone. That is preventing Gaddafi from using his own air assets to wreak havoc on his own population. He expressed in no uncertain terms a very murderous intent to do just that and was in the process of doing so when the mission began.
You mentioned Lieutenant-General Charlie Bouchard. He is doing an outstanding job. I heard about it recently at NATO meetings in Brussels. Everyone from the Secretary General to other participant countries in their leadership were full of praise for General Bouchard and for Canada for what we're doing and for the leadership demonstrated. We're doing all of this work, as you know, very much within the parameters of the UN Security Council resolutions 1970 and 1973. We're there to protect civilian life, to further humanitarian efforts, and in simple terms to force Gaddafi's regime to retract their military forces back to the barracks and to stop wreaking havoc on their civilian population.
We are furthering those efforts. Progress has been made, in that prevention has occurred. We also have the HMCS Charlottetown in the region providing support as well. She was initially a forward deployment in case there was a need for civilian evacuation.